Tratte: Using new
user-provided data

Some users have asked whether it is possible to add additional data
to the Online Tratte
data base. For instance, one might want to study the careers of
Capitani, Vicari and Podestà in the administration of
Florentine territory during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
but these names do not appear in the data file. The answer to adding
data is no and yes. It is not possible to add additional data to the
current main data file (Tre maggiori, Guild elections, and Births)
because this would require restructuring the main file, a costly and
time-consuming process. Basically, the Online Tratte will remain as it is.

However, a procedure in the existing site foresaw the possibility
of researchers using the Online Tratte data along with additional data, which
they provided themselves appropriate to their own research plans.
This does not require more equipment than a PC or Mac with an internet
connection, a data entry program (we recommend File Maker Pro), and a
spread-sheet program (such as Microsoft Excel). To study Capitani,
Vicari and Podestà one would survey the archival materials
(Inventario Archivio delle
Tratte, 392-408) and code the names wanted, using the data
entry program and a laptop computer in the Archivio di Stato. You
will need to study the
Brief Codebook carefully and follow its conventions closely. The
lists of Surnames, Names, Occupations, Origins, RDRAW codes, etc. of
the Online Tratte will
help you with the coding. The compatible data format is listed below.
Having coded the names, the File Maker Pro data file could be
transformed into an Excel spreadsheet and sorted alphabetically. One
would then go to the Online
Tratte, look up the individuals whose careers one wanted to
trace, download the information about them from the main file (using
the Download data to
spreadsheet option, and taking care to have the right
variables), adjust the column widths, add the downloaded information
and add it to onebprojects/s own Excel file, and proceed with
onebprojects/s analysis. By this means one can analyze data from the
Online Tratte easily
along with whatever other similar data that one would like.